Golden Calf or Glorious God?

Exodus is a story full of lessons for those of us who would be God’s holy people! We learn that He really loved them, had great plans for them. His goal? To give bring them to the Promised Land. “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home." (Exodus 15:13, NLT) He richly resourced them. God gave them a place of worship, detailing the construction of the Tabernacle, and teaching them about Himself in the way it was laid out, centered on the Holiest Place where the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat of Atonement! He called Aaron and his sons into a priesthood to administer His grace. He commanded them to set aside a full day each week to remember Him, honoring Him by breaking their pattern of daily work to spend one day in worship. He fed and led them by His constant Presence. Why? Above all, He wanted them to be His! “You are to be my holy people.” (Exodus 22:31, NIV)
And what did they do?
They failed frequently, griped constantly, and resisted leadership! The episode of the Golden Calf is one of the saddest chapters in the story. The Lord called Moses up to the mountain leaving the people for a time. They went to Aaron and said, "Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt." (Exodus 32:23, NLT) He took their gold and gave them an idol!

How could they forget God’s wondrous works in bringing them out of slavery?
How could they so quickly return to the gods of Egypt?

When confusion and uncertainty struck, they reverted to the comfort of the familiar, took the easy path instead of pursuing the mystery of the Lord’s ways. With the golden calf came a descent into lewdness, a riotous orgy of sensuality! Their choice was one made millions of times in history as people abandon their Creator to worship lesser gods.

Disciple, do you have any golden calves in your life? When the way gets tough, or God’s Presence is obscured by circumstances you cannot understand, are you tempted to find solace in things other than the Lord? The Word warns of this age old temptation that leads to depravity. Take a look. People "changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. … (They) changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." (Romans 1:23, 25, KJV) I doubt many of us will be tempted to make a literal figurine, but we might be tempted by money, sex, or pleasure!

Never forget- a man becomes like his god! If we pursue the Holy One, full of Light and Glory, He will lift us out of our depravity and allow us to share His holiness. If we pursue lesser gods, the image of our Creator will grow faint and ultimately die. When the way ahead disappears into the fog of uncertain situations, wait on Him. If necessary, stand still! Remember the Glory.

" God’s Message, the God who made you in the first place, …
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior." (Isaiah 43:1-3, The Message)

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Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings
yet not welcome any pain?
Shall I thank You for days of sunshine
yet grumble in days of rain?
Shall I love You in times of plenty
then leave You in days of drought?
Shall I trust when I reap a harvest
but when winter winds blow, then doubt?

Oh, let Your will be done in me!
In Your love I will abide!
Oh, I long for nothing else as long
as You are glorified!

Are You good only when I prosper
and true only when I'm filled?
Are You King only when I'm carefree
and God only when I'm well?
You are good when I'm poor and needy!
You are true when I'm parched and dry!
You still reign in the deepest valley!
You're still God in the darkest night!

So quiet my restless heart.
Quiet my restless heart.
Quiet my restless heart.

As Long As You are Glorified
© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (c/o Integrity Music, Inc.)

Mark Altrogge

CCLI License No. 810055

Like Jesus, not Don Quixote!

War! Earthquake! Death! Poverty! Disease! Disappointment! Flood! Fire! These and more have caused human beings to cry rivers of tears. Early this morning, as I was praying, my body was shaken with sobs. To be sure, some of my tears were for my own situation. My pending surgery has my emotions in turmoil. However, I was also weeping for a newly widowed woman in my congregation, for my Mom’s loneliness, for my friend’s new struggle with cancer, for the people of Haiti and Afghanistan, for my neighbors. It was beyond sadness. I was feeling what old-timers in the Pentecostal church call a ‘burden for souls.’ I believe that God was pressing me to pray and to renew my love for the lost, the broken, those who have no hope.

"Jerry, why emphasize the sorrow? Why not look on the bright side?" Yes, there is joy to be found. Bev and I were greatly blessed with a new granddaughter on Monday. Little Adelina entered this world whole and healthy! We’re thrilled by that. We have many wonderful friends and our hearts are made glad by being with those we love. We experience wonderful times of worship with God's people. We are unbelievably blessed!

But, we live in a world enslaved by evil, pressed by the Curse of sin, in darkness. In my blessings, I cannot ignore those who suffer. I cannot, despite my overflowing cup of privilege, pretend that all is well. I am commissioned as an agent of the Savior, sent with a message hope and healing to those who are captives of the Evil One. His work is my work. Like Him, I want to let my heart be broken by the human need that is real. As the burden presses on me, I will not fall under despair. I will go to the One who gives me this invitation - "Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:29-30, The Message) “Freely and lightly’ should not be understood to mean without sorrow or hard work! Jesus was Himself a man well acquainted with the sorrows of humanity, but He was renewed by His Father as He engaged in the work. So we can know the daily infusion of the Spirit’s hope and strength, IF we turn to Him and stand with Him in the yoke of service.

It may appear that sharing the Good News of Christ is like shouting down a dark alley with no visible results. Trying to help someone find a better life may not change the whole world, but it changes one life! Some may think that this mission of compassion is a fool's errand, that the tide of human suffering is irresistible. But I know the One who has overcome the world! I have read the end of the Book, and I know that in the end He will vanquish evil, wipe away the tears, and invite us into the Kingdom of Light and Love. I want to be about the work of building that Kingdom now even as I wait to see it arrive in the fullness promised in the Word.
Join me, friend, won't you? Let's look evil straight in the eye, engage ourselves with those who suffer, even when it makes us weep! Let’s do the work of Jesus while there is opportunity. All the while, we can be sustained by this wonderful promise. ". . . they stand in front of God's throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter. They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:15-17, NLT)

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Jesus! What a friend for sinners!
Jesus lover of my soul!
Friends may fail me, foes assail me;
He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Hallelujah what a Savior.
Hallelujah what a Friend.
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.

Jesus! What a strength in weakness!
Let me hide myself in Him;
Tempted tried and sometimes failing,
He, my strength my victory wins.

Jesus! What a help in sorrow!
While the billows o'er me roll,
Even when my heart is breaking,
He, my Comfort helps my soul.

Hallelujah what a Savior.
Hallelujah what a Friend.
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.

Our Great Savior- J. Wilbur Chapman C Public Domain

Adventures, ballast, and faith

I am a guy who likes to get to the point!  I analyze and ask, what’s going on? If we can figure out why is it happening, we can fix it. I like things to run smoothly and on time. And yet, I am a Pastor, a man who deals with mysteries and Someone Who is way too big to fit into any box I might try to build for Him! He invites me to live with Him in the wonder of this thing called life. A good Father, He does not always explain Himself, but He always holds out His hand and says, “Let’s walk together.”  A basic requirement for this adventure is faith which is defined in the Word as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1, NIV)  For a guy thinks concretely, who likes to know the whole equation, faith is not always fun, but it sure can be interesting.

Once again my Heavenly Father has chosen to invite me on an adventure. Yesterday, I met a surgeon who gazed at the CT scan and told me that major surgery was required.  My digestive tract is blocked by something and it has to come out. I’ll have that surgery, Lord-willing, next Weds., 2/17 and then be hospitalized for recovery for several days. And, once it’s out, a biopsy will show if there are additional challenges ahead. It would be nice to write that I feel perfect peace and acceptance. I don’t!  I am working on it. At this moment, mostly what I feel is angry.  I would like to throw a tantrum like a 2 year old! But, what good would it do?

Sailing boats have a weight below the waterline,ballast, that counterbalances the wind’s forces on the sail. Without ballast, a gust of heavy wind would capsize the boat.  My life is full of gusty winds at the moment. But, I have many, many experiences walking with Him that keep me upright! There is ballast in the hold gained in prayers and tears through the years. Being human, I would prefer fewer gusts, but I am not the Master of the Seas or the Wind.  Then, too, I am reminded that I am part of a family that will help me to crew this ship through the storm.  Ever seen those racing sailboats with all the crew hanging over the side of the boat in a hard turn, helping to balance her and keep her upright?  That’s my family of faith!  I know they are pulling for me through this.

Some suggest that the devil is at work in all this. To be sure, there is a devil who actively opposes God and those who serve Him on this earth. But, as a child of God, I am absolutely convinced that nothing is allowed into my life without the permission of my Father. I don’t see my situation as the direct work of the devil. What I do see as his work is the temptation to doubt, to accuse, to let fear become the controlling emotion of my life. Instead, with the strength of the Spirit, I chose love – for God, for life, for people. My hope and prayer is that this adventure, like those He’s arranged prior, will bring about better things in me, for His honor.

Here’s the word from the Word to which I hold today. Join me in taking the promise.

"So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.
Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.
This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary." (Hebrews 6:18-19, NLT) 

Christians are about to enter the season of Lent which leads us to the most glorious celebration of our calendar – Resurrection Day. Many get all excited about Christmas, making a big build-up to the holiday but when Easter arrives, it’s almost an afterthought. It’s the BIG day! Everything we believe about our faith hangs on the factual event of Christ’s bodily resurrection. Timothy Keller, in The Reason for God, states the case. “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept what He said; if He did not rise from the then dead, then why worry about any of what He said?” The Scripture says, "And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless." (1 Corinthians 15:14, NLT)


The Resurrection of Christ was the event that caused the first generation of disciples to give their lives to travel the length and breadth of the Empire to declare a whole new truth about the meaning of human existence! Would they have willingly died for a lie? Would they have given up their homes, their families, their comfort to spread a falsehood? That makes no sense at all. They were seized by the hope that “all things are made new” and that God had not abandoned them to the grave. It was Good News worth living and dying to tell!

When I was younger, I must confess that I didn’t give a whole lot of thought to the Resurrection. It just seemed like the end of the story, cool, nice, affirming. My life on earth stretched out ahead of me. Death was real but distant. Aches and pains that signal the aging of the body were just a joke about ‘old people.’ Eternal life was something I talked about and accepted, but all the while I was very much taken up with life, right here, right now. I still love life! My newest grandchild arrived in this world yesterday and I would like to be around to see her dance with her Dad at her wedding! There’s a whole lot of loving yet to do.

But, mortality and death are real now, too. I regularly stand in a field of stones now, visiting the plot of ground marked by a piece of granite where my Dad’s body rests. I am less optimistic about my ability to change things around me, too. These words from the Bible are more than a phrase to me: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?" (Romans 8:22-24, NIV) I’ll be preaching the Resurrection with much more eagerness this year!
It isn’t just the hope of a body and soul reunion, a new existence that is without pain or parting that grips me. It is the whole idea that God loves this Creation – including you and me- enough to promise a Divine intervention, an infusion of glorious life that is unimaginably wonderful. We weep, but not as those who are hopeless. We feel sorrow, but not as those engulfed with despair.

Here’s a word from the Word. Let it dry your tears today. May the Spirit of God make it living Truth for us.

"For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet." (1 Corinthians 15:22-25, NIV)
"When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:54, NIV)
"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:58, NIV)

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A footnote -
CoffeeBreak may be sent out sporadically over the next two weeks. I will be visiting a surgeon today to consult about a serious medical issue that is complicating life at this time. So, if you don’t see my musing in your email, I thank you, in advance for your prayers for me.

Quiet Before The Storm?

There are few things more impressive than a major thunderstorm. Standing in the sunlight, looking to the west, you can see the clouds billowing high into the sky. Ominously, the sky begins to darken, birds grow still, then there is that first gust of wind which is the signal to seek shelter. A few moments later, trees are bending, lightning is flashing, and the crash of thunder shakes the earth. Sometimes such storm leave a swath of destruction, broken trees, downed power lines; which takes days, if not weeks, to clean up. And yet, after each storm a new normal returns, the broken restored or replaced.

There are moments in life like that. The sun shines! All is well! Then a moment comes that makes everything pause. Your soul senses a storm is on the horizon. Emotional clouds roll in. The first little puffs of troubling winds start to blow, and you can only think: what will be left standing when the storms blows by? What will be shaken? The comes the fury. All is tossed into disarray, plans aborted, the future rearranged. But, just like with a thunderstorm, our inner lives find a new normal, too. We put the pieces back together, a little wiser, a lot more cautious, and hopefully - deeper in faith.

Disciple, we all experience life’s storms; however, in the middle of the storm, there is One who walks alongside of us Who is bigger than the storm. Mark tells a ‘storm story!’ It’s written to inspire our faith. Take a look.
"That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.
A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”" (Mark 4:35-40, NIV)

Jesus wanted to know why they were such cowards! “Why are you so ready to despair?” He asked. “Haven’t you seen a storm before? Don’t you know Who you’re with?”

If a storm is brewing on the horizon, or even if you’re enduring the height of it with crashing thunder and terrible winds all around, take courage! The summary that Mark reports in his story, which most likely he heard from Peter, is this: "They were in absolute awe, staggered. “Who is this, anyway?” they asked. “Wind and sea at his beck and call!” (Mark 4:41, The Message) Our Lord is Master of the storms. He can command the winds to cease, or He can help us to stand while they blow.

We cannot ask an exemption from life or the storms, we cannot run to some place where we imagine no storms can reach us. We can stand fearlessly! Here’s a word from the Word for those of us facing a storm:

"Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you’ve got, be resolute, and love without stopping." (1 Corinthians 16:13-14, The Message)

"Because we are the sons of God, we must become the sons of God!" - George MacDonald

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